Baker Academic

Thursday, September 29, 2016

More videos from the 2016 Memory Conference at St Mary's University, Twickenham are now available online. For the sake of convenience, I'll post here also the links that I earlier posted. Make sure to check out Crossley's especially, since this is where he reads the paper in his skull and crossbones shirt. He's bound to break out a Misfits t-shirt for his forthcoming inaugural lecture.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

I'm reading through Joan Taylor's edited volume, Jesus and Brian: Exploring the Historical Jesus and his Times via Monty Python's Life of Brian (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015). This is such an interesting book. As with any edited volume, some of the essays exhibit higher quality than others, though judging between them probably also depends on the reader. But in her essay (one of the best I've read so far), Helen Bond examines two different kinds of humor in relation to crucifixion in the ancient world: parody/mockery of the victim, on one and, and gallows humor, on the other.

In her discussion of "gallows humor," Helen Bond relates a story told by Strabo (Geography 3.4.18), in which "Spanish prisoners after the Cantabrian wars who continued to sing victory songs, even when nailed to their crosses" ("'You'll Probably Get away with Crucifixion': Laughing at the Cross in Brian and the Ancient World," 113–26 [p. 121]). For Strabo, the victims' singing is a sign of their madness, but Bond offers a different perspective: "[F]rom the prisoners' point of view, it's easy to see their songs as a final act of defiance, as a way of strengthening morale, and a last laugh in the face of Roman oppression. There's something heroine about these wild Cantabrians, unwilling to be snuffed out by Rome" (121).

Okay, here's the observation promised in this post's title: In Spanish, canta is an imperative verb that means, "Sing!" (the exclamation point meant to convey a sense of command), and so "canta, Brian" would be a command to Brian: "Sing, Brian!"

Cantabrian victims of crucifixion singing while on their crosses, in the context of a discussion of Monty Python's Life of Brian and the crucifixion victims' singing, "Always look on the bright side of life," and the Spanish phrase "canta Brian"; it all just fits together nicely . . .

Allow me to apologize for liberals, progressives, and bed-wetting treehuggers everywhere. I will affectionately call this group the LPBT+ community. (The plus symbol here represents me, as I am fond of simple addition and tiny Celtic crosses.) It is quite common that we in the LPBT+ community are downright rude during election cycles . . . . which is another way to say all of the time. Rude might be an understatement. We are condescending, self-righteous, elitist, and other big words. Among our many moral failures this year is our inability to discuss Donald Trump with civility.

So allow me to try to convince you that Trump is unfit to hold public office without using the standard LPBT+ talking points. For all of my political proclivities, I have come to respect a number libertarian ideals by sitting down with my more conservative friends. I demur more often than not, but I've learned a great deal too. I would encourage my progressive friends to consider these arguments as common ground.

1. War crimes. Mr. Trump, if elected, would command the U.S. military to murder the family members of suspected terrorists. As noted by Rand Paul, such an action would be a war crime. When pressed, he doubled down on his original statement: "they may not care much about their lives . . . they do care, believe it or not, about their families' lives." When it was suggested to him that U.S. soldiers might refuse on moral grounds, Trump said, "If I say do it, they’re going to do it." He has made many over-the-top statements. He makes them so often that this one seems to have been buried in a heap of social media vitriol, comedy bits, and political fatigue. I will admit to making light of Mr. Trump myself. But this particular campaign promise (empty or not) is a clear statement in support of war crimes. It has not been taken out of context. Mr. Trump has clarified it, repeated it, and owned it.

Also protected by the first amendment is the freedom of religious expression. But Mr. Trump suggests limiting such freedom by closing places of worship. Chief among conservative American values is a commitment to support and defend the U.S. Constitution. In stark contrast, Trump's proposals would set dangerous precedents for religious liberty as defined by the first amendment.

4. Executive power. My chief criticisms of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama have been in their military objectives and methods. I tend to get less worked up about domestic policy (I realize that this is a deficit on my part). But my conservative friends have been most dismayed over President Obama's expansion of executive power (tip of the hat to Dick Cheney). If indeed you hold conservative values, you ought to be deeply troubled by Trump's intention to expand executive power. Indeed, we all should be.

This is the point in the program where my progressive friends will want me to call out Mr. Trump's misogyny, racism, and xenophobia. Many of my Christian friends will want me to call out Mr. Trump's lack of humility, greed, vulgarity, and immorality. But I offer the four points listed above as a way to begin a civil conversation.

Finally, if you are willing to grant that this short article as been civil (and I hope you will) I will ask that you return the favor in your comments. I would ask you to avoid the distraction of changing the conversation to Hillary Clinton. This is conversation about Mr. Trump and nothing else.

Friday, September 23, 2016

Larry Behrendt reviews Near Christianity: How Journeys along Jewish-Christian Borders Saved my Faith in God. Larry was an important conversation partner for me as I wrote this book so his review reveals a few longer dialogues between us. I continue the conversation in a guest post.

Larry and I are both committed to inviting more (and more diverse) voices to the table of Jewish-Christian dialogue. Do please take this as an invitation to visit Jewish Christian Intersections and comment as often as you will. We believe that this is an important practice and that it can impact larger multicultural relationships.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

I'm delighted to inform readers of the Jesus Blog that videos of some of the lectures from the conference are now available at YouTube and the Conference Highlights page of the CSSSB website. (If you go to the latter, note that it will look like only one video from the conference is available but you can navigate to seven total.)

These are the lectures from only the first day. The sound is not always perfect, and for a reason that I'm not quite sure, Jens's lecture cuts off just a bit early. I'll share the other videos when they're available.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

I am told that my book, Near Christianity: How Journeys along Jewish-Christian Borders Saved my Faith in God, is on Barnes & Noble shelves in places as exotic as Springfield, IL! The generous folks at Zondervan would like to celebrate the occasion by giving away a copy. You can enter in four fun-filled ways:

Saturday, September 10, 2016

This much is certain, that we have no theological right to set any sort of limits to the loving-kindness of God which has appeared in Jesus Christ. Our theological duty is to see and understand it as being still greater than we had seen before.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

I happily announce a PhD studentship available for a NT student who wishes to do a PhD in the Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible. See here for the information and full announcement. Application deadline is Nov. 7, and this is for someone starting in Fall 2017.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

As we approach what you Brits call "autumn", please could you tell us what you've been doing this summer?

Yours,
Al

Dear Al,

Great question! I won't go over growing vegetables, PES or No Man's Sky because there aren't many biblical references there (though one day I'd like to grow a garden of biblical plants). I have, however, been interviewing people from a place called "Barrow-in-Furness" about the Brexit and the Bible, the results of which have just been published in Relegere where you can download the article for free. While I maintained a professional distance, some of the subalterns did use a lot of idiomatic cusswords, just like the "weapons of the weak" were used in Galilee. If that's not your thing, you've been warned; if it is you're thing, hopefully they won't disappoint.

...a weblog dedicated to historical Jesus research and New Testament studies

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Le Donne, Keith, Pitre, Crossley, Jacobi, Rodríguez

James Crossley (PhD, Nottingham) is Professor of Bible, Society, and Politics at St. Mary's University, Twickenham, London. In addition to most things historical Jesus, his interests typically concern Jewish law and the Gospels, the social history of biblical scholarship, and the reception of the Bible in contemporary politics and culture. He is co-executive editor of the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus.

Christine Jacobi studied protestant theology and art history in Berlin and Heidelberg. She is research associate at the chair of exegesis and theology of the New Testament and apocryphal writings. She completed her dissertation at the Humboldt-University of Berlin in 2014. She is the author of Jesusüberlieferung bei Paulus? Analogien zwischen den echten Paulusbriefen und den synoptischen Evangelien (BZNW 213), Berlin: de Gruyter 2015. Christine Jacobi is a member of the „August-Boeckh-Antikezentrum“ and the „Berliner Arbeitskreis für koptisch-gnostische Schriften“.

Chris Keith (PhD, Edinburgh) is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity and Director of the Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London.

Anthony Le Donne (PhD, Durham) is Associate Professor of New Testament at United Theological Seminary. He is the author/editor of seven books. He is the co-founder of the Jewish-Christian Dialogue and Sacred Texts Consultation and the co-executive editor of the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus.

Brant Pitre (PhD, University of Notre Dame) is Professor of Sacred Scripture at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. Among other works, he is the author of Jesus, the Tribulation, and the End of the Exile (Mohr-Siebeck/Baker Academic, 2005), and Jesus and the Last Supper (Eerdmans, 2015). He is particularly interested in the relationship between Jesus, Second Temple Judaism, and Christian origins.

Rafael Rodríguez (PhD, Sheffield) is Professor of New Testament at Johnson University. He has published a number of books and essays on social memory theory, oral tradition, the Jesus tradition, and the historical Jesus, as well as on Paul and Pauline tradition. He also serves as co-chair of the Bible in Ancient and Modern Media section of the Society of Biblical Literature.

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Jesus and the Last Supper

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Structuring Early Christian Memory: Jesus in Tradition, Performance and Text